Doug Fister's slide continues as Pirates sink Nats 7-3

PITTSBURGH - Nationals starter Doug Fister has struggled to find consistency this season. The tall righty was battered often and hard from the beginning of tonight's 7-3 loss the Pirates.

"It's inexcusable," Fister said. "Starting to get back to feeling better and strong and being able to locate. But missing on too many pitches over the plate. I'm not going for the right pitches at the right time. Not going after them and going with my second or third best pitch. I've just got to re-evaluate myself."

Andrew McCutchen singled with two outs in the first and then Starling Marte smacked a hanging curveball from Fister into the power alley in left for an RBI triple.

Fister's 87 mph fastball to Pedro Alvarez to start the second sat in the middle of the plate, and Alvarez drilled it over the left field wall for a solo homer.

"He's not getting the sink that he normally gets," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "It's running, but it's not sinking. With a sinkerball pitcher, if he loses feel for that, then it's hard for him to make mistakes in the middle of the plate because it's 87 or 88 mph instead of 96."

Fister battled through the next two innings before giving up two more runs in the fifth. After Marte singled, Jung Ho Kang roped an RBI double to left-center. On the throw to the plate, Kang advanced to third, where he scored easily from on Alvarez's soft ground ball back to Fister moments later.

"It encapsulates (Fister's) night pretty much right there," Williams said. "Just nothing's going right for him."

Fister's evening ended after throwing 99 pitches over five innings. He allowed four runs on nine hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Five of the nine hits the Pirates banged off Fister went for extra bases.

"It's a little side to side right now," Fister said of his normally sinking fastball. "That's my biggest feat to get over right now and being able to get that true sinker back. I've said it from day one. It is my biggest thing: being able to keep it down and keep the ball moving downward.

"That's a fine tune mistake. It's something that continually pitching and kinda pitching through some of this is gonna be good for me on the back side. Whether it's a rhythm pitcher, whether it's a fine tune, whatever you want to call it, being able to continue to pitch through things and not kinda sit it out. It's something I'm gonna have to pitch through and mentally grind through."

The Nationals have lost five of Fister's six starts since he returned from the disabled list on June 18 after missing over a month with a strained flexor muscle in his right forearm. He has surrendered four or more runs seven times in his last eleven starts as his ERA balloons to 4.50. Teams only tagged Fister for four or more runs four times in his 25 outings last season while he led all Nationals starters with a 2.41 ERA.

Fister said he's been reflecting on some tougher times in his career lately to help dig himself out of this rut.

"In Double-A, 2008, there were some rough moments there," Fister said. "Those are some of times I'm digging back on now and really trying to dig deep on. Whether it's learning about myself or reverting back to knowing who I am. Those are the kind of moments I've really learned from. There's something to be said for and something to learn from the negative times, the rough and bad times. There's a positive you can bring out of it and experience that comes with it. That's what I'm trying to figure out right now."

Ian Desmond has experienced the lows of a slump this year but seems to be fighting his way out of it the last few games. He nailed his 100th career homer on a two-run shot to center in the ninth and is now 7-for-11 over his last four games. After the game, Desmond showed no doubts in Fister.

"I'll take that guy on my team any day of the week, at this state or at his best or worst," Desmond said. "He's an unbelievable teammate and great on the mound and he helps the defense out a lot."